Gemstones and Homunculi [Savna]

[Decimus Aemilius Lepidus]

Her grin was unexpected but Decimus found himself liking it- he enjoyed it when others around him were happy, it made him feel like he was doing right as their master. "If you have the time and the materials to make more, go ahead. I'm not terribly concerned about it, I have plenty already and get many more. My family operates a variety of mines and they are always quick to share with their eldest son." He looked around the pile around them, trying to remember where his various stashes were before he gave a soft sound of annoyance.

"It'll take me forever to dig everything out in this form... Stay right here, I'm going to shift. Don't want to smack in to you while I do it." Just to be safe, he moved further away, shrugging off his jacket as he went. The shoes went next, followed by his shirt and slacks- he was a fan of going commando. When he was done he shifted, form rippling before exploding outwards with a soft 'pop'. The change didn't seem to affect him, as he didn't need a moment to recover before he moved back over, scales rattling before they settled in to place.

"Much better. You have no idea how awkward it is to be in such a small unarmored form when you are used to being much bigger... Anyways, let me look around, I believe I have a bag of star sapphires over here somewhere." He lifted a leg, claws delicately scooping in to the mass of metal and pulling it aside. It took him a few tries to find the bag he was searching for, and he carefully snagged the silk sack and dropped it at Savna's feet. "There we are. Now I know I have some opals around here as well if you like them, and diamonds as well... How exactly do you eat the gemstones? I swallow them whole myself."

Being in his hoard, in his normal form and with his new intriguing slave made the dragon relaxed and happy. He moved to another mound to paw through it curiously, tail swaying lazily as he picked out gemstones that he came across, starting to build a small pile beside him.

[Savnarae]

Mines. That was something Savna had yet to see; something she wanted to see quite badly one day. How they pulled these gems out of the earth.

She watched her master's transformation with a shameless but impassive curiosity, keeping still as he asked. She didn't mind his nudity; she didn't mind anyone's, but the shift was intriguing to watch. It wasn't like a normal shifter, this was fast, natural. She liked it. And she was fully impressed by his true form.

She knelt down and opened it, wide-eyed and smiling. She picked up a gentle handful. How beautiful...These would go so nicely up her spine, or across her shoulders...

She looked up at the dragon with that same smile. "I'm capable of breaking them up slightly with my teeth, and it's better for absorption. It's a bit loud, though, and many people prefer I ate alone." The crackle and pop of splitting gems was very loud indeed, and sometimes the grinding was deafening for certain species. She didn't mind eating alone. People tended to stare in horror as she consumed her thousand-dollar-meals sometimes. It was usually for the better.

[Decimus Aemilius Lepidus]

If gems were what it took to make her smile, Decimus would make her a very happy dragon. He nudged aside another pile of coins and paused to listen to her as she talked before he returned to digging. "In that case, we'll get you a bag so you can bring a few meals back to your room when we leave. My hearing isn't the most acute out there, but better safe than sorry. Ah, here are the opals!"

He tugged out a medium sized box, holding it awkwardly before he placed it down, flicking it open. "They're mostly black opals, they're the prettiest... But they aren't too hard as far as gemstones go so I don't keep too many around. I prefer diamonds, they give me the hardest scales." He paused, eyeing her before he scooted around the pile, returning with a larger bag in his teeth. He placed it beside the box with a hum before he lowered himself to the ground to watch her. "That bag has lots of smaller gems. I kept them around in case I ever found myself a mate and had hatchlings, since they can choke on the bigger gems when they are smaller... But they've been laying around long enough. You can use them to decorate with instead."

He curled his tail to his side, leaning over to grab a mouthful of gold and silver coins from his hoard. Head tilting back he swallowed them whole, giving a low content hum as they went. "Do you have a preferred gemstone or color to decorate with? Diamonds would be best since they are harder, or rubies and sapphires. If you have a preference I can take a look at what I have here, and if I don't have enough I can get them easily enough." Decimus paused to nibble at his leg, focusing on a loose scale that was bothering him as he waited for an answer.

[Savnarae]

Gems, stones, gold, this was absolutely incredible. Savna had never felt more comfortable in her life, surrounded by her own elements and so many similar. She stayed crouched as she pored over the new box and its pearlescent collection. As beautiful and multihued as they were though, Savna had never been particularly attracted to them. Too much of a good thing. These darker opals were quite pretty, but Master Lepidus was right, they weren't terribly hard; she needed hard gems for bone reinforcement. These would be good for facial decoration, a nice opal set into the center of the forehead or near one temple would look lovely. She just couldn't coat herself with them as she could with gems. They were too bright, even black opals; that was mostly the problem. They were opaque, and their color and reflections didn't dim when they were half-submerged in pewter, unlike gems. Good for accenting and mosaic work, but not much else.

She paused as her master selected and returned with another bag. She didn't touch this one immediately, but instead looked up at the dragon who offered it to her, watching him eat. He was giving her gems he saved especially for children? For decorative use only, though, and she made that distinction an important one in her mind. They must be quite special indeed. All of her masters at some point either vocalized their fondness and desire for children, or lamented their lack thereof. Even Dr. Orwell referred to his homunculi as his children, and while Savna did not feel such things, she understood the importance of offspring to others. She would treat these with utmost respect.

"Truth be told, I like having as many options as possibly to decorate, as you can see I like to make pictures if I have the right colors." She stood with the bag of small gems, gestured to and showed off the flower and its vine climbing up her arm with a smile. The bag was quite heavy, but she was quite strong. "To eat I also prefer the precious gems: sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds. Diamonds reinforce my bones and teeth best, but are are harder to break down, so smaller diamonds would be best for me. Any size of the other three is fine."

She wondered if he was planning to watch her decorate, of if he'd let her decorate herself in private. She didn't mind either, so long as he didn't mind her nude or exposing skin without coming on to her, and so long as they were near a fire so she could soften her skin.

[Decimus Aemilius Lepidus]

"Alright then, you'll find quite a variety of gems in that bag and I'll supply you with more as well." Fed up with his loose scale, he gripped it with his teeth and tugged it out, dropping it to lick at the small wound he had left. A replacement scale was already growing, had been pushing the old one out of place, and after he checked that it was growing in straight he turned his attention back to Savna, considering her before he nudged the discarded scale towards her. "Do you think this would be edible? My scales are grown using gemstones and metals to strengthen them after all." Too bad she was so small and her skin so complex- if they could cover her with his scales she would be quite safe. But even if she could use them, it would take him forever to collect enough of the smaller scales around his face and paws to cover her...

"And we need to heat the gems to get them attached. Let's go back out to the fireplace, I wish to watch you. Probably not the whole process, since that would no doubt take a while and I have other duties, but I'm curious." He shifted forms again until he was a naked man laying on the ground, and quickly rose to redress himself. "Just take whatever gems you wish to use and add them to the bag with the sapphires. Be sure to pick out enough to eat as well, and you can look through that pile to your left; I dug out some more loose gems to use however you wish."

He tugged on his pants and shirt, throwing his jacket over his shoulder as he walked back over. He always felt the weakness of this form the hardest right after shifting, but he wasn't on edge about it when he was in private. "Ah, and I forgot... Would you like your goblet to keep with you, or would you feel better if it was left here?" It was probably safer in the hoard, but it was terribly important to her- he could see why she might want to keep it close.

[Savnarae]

Savna recovered the scale and considered it. He actually didn't want to eat it; it would make a nice keepsake, a small memento of Terrezen, her dragonscale homnunculus "brother." It wasn't quite the same color, and neither was Master Lepidus, but it was the same shape, same type of scale. maybe she'd try a bite later.

"I don't mind where you keep it so long as it's safe," she said, looking back up to him. She again had no reaction to his temporary lack of clothing. It was all the same to her. "If it's safe in here, I will feel comfortable with it here." Based on how carelessly master Lepidus had just scooped up and eaten a dragon's mouthful of gold though...she didn't want her goblet going that way. It would kill her without question. The thought was mildly chilling.

She dropped the scale in the bag of sapphires and knelt down again,. She pulled a handful of small gems arbitrarily from the bag she'd been carrying and pouring it carefully in with the sapphires, and then another. Two would be enough, she figured. She didn't actually know the relative surface area of her skin. She scooped up another few handfuls from the loose gems, figuring those would make good food. They seemed to be treated with less value than these sorted ones. She'd figure it all out eventually; she was fairly confident of this.

She didn't want to keep him waiting, so rather than bother choosing several gems from each container she took another handful from the chest and a smaller handful of opals, and dumped them both in the sapphire bag. She closed it and straightened up, looking up at her now-human master.

"I think that'll do. I appreciate all of this greatly, Master Lepidus," she told him. "I've never eaten a dragon scale before, but I might try it later. " She didn't know what might happen if she just ate one; usually if she was forced to eat regular food once, it didn't really affect her too badly. Maybe slight indigestion. The effect only occurred when she was continually fed human foods in lieu of gems.

She looked at the door she was closer to, and made a small gesture for him to lead the way out.

[Decimus Aemilius Lepidus]

Either Decimus had noticed her sudden unease, or he had come to the same deduction she had- he could swallow a goblet easily enough, had done so before. "Don't worry, it will be completely safe here... From my stomach as well. I wouldn't eat pewter unless I had no other choice, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and doesn't settle in my stomach well. Most alloys don't, I guess my stomach doesn't break it down as well as pure metals." He shrugged, taking the goblet in question and opening a small chest, placing it inside carefully before he shut it. It would be quite safe, even if someone managed to get in to his hoard they would never pick up something made of pewter when far more valuable metals were all around them.

He straightened up and offered Savna a small smile, shrugging softly. "There is no need to thank me; I am just providing you what you need to best protect me... And if I find it visually pleasant, well that's just a plus." He started for the door, opening it and allowing her through before he let it shut and relock again. After checking to make sure it locked he made his way over to the fireplace, kneeling to inspect what was left inside it. All the wood had burned away while he was gone, but there were still embers; but he was too impatient to nurse it in to flame. Instead he arranged more wood in to it and bent down, opening his mouth and releasing a small jet of flame to light it. Fire burning, he straightened to look at Savna, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"I still have my fire bladder in this form- when I shift I can make organs smaller, but I can't just get rid of them. Don't often do it though, I feel a bit more jumpy when I have very flammable hair... Now, is there a method you use to heat the gems?" He was trying to figure out how she did it, and was eager to begin.

[Savnarae]

Savna did feel much better physically watching her master lock her life force away in a chest, and smiled especially when he discussed not liking alloys. She followed him from the room with the lone bag of gems and stood quietly as he contemplated the fire. She doubted he actually needed protection, even in this form, and her doubts were confirmed as he rekindled a dead fire with his lungs. Didn't matter, though. She'd still serve him, even if the guise of protection was only a facade.

She was impressed by the display of fire breathing, though. Looked just like Terrez. She remembered for a moment the way he'd gently burnish her body with the lightest of flames when the winter months hardened her skin and made movement painful. She'd never missed a brother or sister before, but never had she had so powerful and living a reminder, either.

"I actually prefer to heat my skin itself to soften it," she explained, moving herself closer to the warmth. "If I heat only the gems, it works, but it leaves a bulge in the pewter around them that's difficult to smooth out. If the skin is heated, it parts more easily, and I can mold it around the gem. It doesn't take long."

Assuming she wanted her master to see immediately, she laid down the gems and reached her arm into the flames. She didn't touch the wood, but she rotated it a few times, then held it above the fire.

"It's quite simple," she said, appearing to be unaffected by the flames that had just licked her arm directly. She pulled the bag of gems closer and opened it, rooting around inside for a small one. She came up with an emerald shard and held it up for Master Lepidus.

She pulled her now-quite-warm arm out of the fire. It more closely resembled skin now, softer looking. "Just set..." she laid the gem against the middle of her forearm, "...and push." She pressed it gently with her thumb. The skin puckered around it, then it sank in easily. Painless despite how it looked. "Then cool, and admire."

She looked up at him, smiling. She'd probably move it later, or maybe make a field scene if she had enough emerald shards. This was just demonstration.

[Decimus Aemilius Lepidus]

Decimus was rather impressed by the way she stuck her arm in to the fire- such a thing would not damage him when he had hard scales to protect him, but most humanoids would be reeling with pain from it. He knew she would melt if she accidentally left her arm in for too long, but he trusted her to know how much was enough more than he did. As she looked in the bag he flopped bonelessly on to the couch, watching avidly as she pulled away from the heat. Her skin looked different after heating, and took the gem easily when she pressed it in.

"Fascinating." He didn't seem to realize he said it out loud, raising his head to examine her arm. "How do you create with gems? Do you think it up first or just work as you go? Do you have a favored thing to make, like flowers?" He would have loved to be able to wear gems in such a way, but he wouldn't want the weaknesses that seemed to come with it. He loved heat too much to have to worry about melting before of it...

"If you don't mind suggestions, why not try a dragon somewhere? ...And how exactly do you manage to do your back? There has to be some places that are difficult to reach, not to mention trying to look at what you're doing." He liked asking her questions, she did nothing but answer them. He had never liked to be scolded in any way because of his curiosity, he just liked to learn as much as he possibly could. Savna's lack of irritation at having to answer his questions just made him come up with even more to ask her, and he was long past the point of thinking to filter them out.

[Savnarae]

Questions questions questions. Savna's master was as fascinated as he'd said he was. It, like so much else about him and his house, made her smile.

"I'm quite flexible," she told him. "Usually I don't decorate more than my shoulders and lower back because of shirts, though. I was considering a dragon, it depends on how small some of the shards are. maybe a wing on my back, or a scale pattern down one leg. I didn't used to make pictures, but masters liked to dress me up and pattern the gems themselves or pay someone to work with me, and my other homunculi had their patterns they liked to set in my skin, too...People like pictures more than patterns, so I learned to do it for myself."

She liked explaining. It was a good relief to get it all out now, to get herself on perfect grounds with her master. There was so little known about homunculi, it was hard to live as one sometimes, especially when she was used to the perfect comprehension of her creator.

"Most times I just stand in front of a mirror and decide what looks good, or try to replace some gems to match whatever I was going to wear that day. Sometimes I copy the pattern of a shirt or skirt. I only ever do pictures on my own if I'm wearing something like this," she gestured at her tiny top and short shorts, "when the focus is on me instead of the clothes, and the clothes are small and boring." She gestured at her arm again, the one with the flower. "I just did this one because it would attract more attention, and I wanted to be bought."

She hoped this was all pleasing him. She hoped she didn't sound out-of-place or arrogant, speaking to her master like an equal having a normal conversation like this.

[Decimus Aemilius Lepidus]

"Ah, that makes sense. Be odd to have strange lumps under your clothes... Though if you're to be my bodyguard I do suggest you put some diamonds down your spine. Never know when you might get struck from behind, and we wouldn't want you paralyzed. If you are able to be paralyzed that is. And as for patterns... Just do whatever pleases you and provides you as much protection as possible. My attention focuses more on gems than actual pictures, I appreciate them more than art."

He considered her, pursing his lips thoughtfully. Perhaps he would take her on a trip to get her clothing instead of just ordering them, it would probably be best. Her lack of chest would make some shirts awkward after all, and he did have plenty of free time tomorrow. "Well, the flower certainly did it's job I think we can both agree. I didn't expect to find anything like you in the ring, they just don't usually have that much in the way of quality down there... I would have expected you to be with a private seller, not on display in a place where many who might have bought you would have been hard-pressed to care for you properly."

Honestly, he was surprised anyone would ever sell a creature like her- she could make gemstones, anyone who got their hands on her would have the ability to make quite a bit of cash. Still, their loss was his gain, and he was far happier with her than he would have been with any common slave he might have picked out of the pens. "How many other homunculi were there? Were they all gemstone ones like you, or are there a wide variety?" She seemed to speak of them fondly, perhaps he could get his hands on more homunculi if they preferred to be together...

[Savnarae]

"There were many of us. I never counted, but I assisted in the creation of several. We were made from all sorts of things. My creator's heirlooms, things found around the lab, around the mountain, things bought in town...anything that looked sturdy and interested he tried." Not all of them succeeded, though. Savna tried not to think about the failures. They weren't pretty.

"I don't usually get sold off, though. Typically, a master buys me for life or until he's...well, killed. Not that you have anything to worry about, I'm certain, Master," she amended with a smile. "Masters with their own powers, or those who used me as guards weren't killed." And many had attempted Dr. Orwell's life, too. Anything for his mountainside lab and his famous glittering earth people.

She turned away and reached her arm back into the fire to heat it again. It was still quite warm, so she didn't leave it in the flames for more than a moment, then held it close to them, sifting around for more small emeralds. She decided she'd put a fireworks pattern on her arm if she could find more long shards.

[Decimus Aemilius Lepidus]

"I see... He just experimented with whatever he had laying around, your master?" He didn't know too much of magic, but he imagined that such a thing could easily turn out to be dangerous. Surely not all tries were successful either, he wondered how unpleasant a failure could be.

He chuckled after she finished her assurances, running a hand through his hair. "Well that's comforting... I've lived for a very long time, hopefully your purchase will not jinx me." He rubbed the stubble on his jaw as he watched her before he slipped down to the floor for a better look. "Want me to look through the bag for you as you heat? Seems a bit awkward to only have one hand to open the bag and look through it." Plus assisting her seemed funner than just watching, even if he wasn't sure about pressing any gems in himself- he hated burns and wasn't about to risk one. But being so close to the fire was soothing for him, and he was quite relaxed as he watched her work, trying to figure out what he could do to assist when he thought of something else instead.

"Are your eyes a weak spot?" He knew the difficulties of having them as a weakness; it seemed like every dragonslayer went for the eyes at some point. "I mean.. If they are damaged, what do you do? Can you rebuild them? And what is your hair made out of?" More questions, he seemed to never run out of them for long.

[Savnarae]

Savna nodded as master Lepidus confirmed what she'd said about her creator. Likewise, she sat on her knees as he came to the floor with her. Much more comfortable.

"If you'd like to sort some of the smaller gems for me, I would be grateful," she affirmed, looking down at the handful she'd pulled out and nimbly trapping another slim emerald between two fingers. The rest were poured back into the bag. She carefully aligned its tip with the other already set in and formed a straight line with the two of them running parallel to her arm.

"Would you like to try?" she asked, offering him her warmed arm as she smoothed the edges of the two gems and pressed down the ridge that had formed between then with her fingers. "It's a bit of muscle work, but I'm sure you could."

She considered the final question set seriously for a second. "As for my eyes...I've never really thought of it. Nothing is permanent damage to me, so I imagine that a lost eye would grow back. Most of my insides are flesh and blood, and the insides of my eyes most likely are as well, but from what Dr. Orwell--my creator--and I figured, the iris works by sliding shards of pewter against one another to dilate and contract the pupil, and he told me once that my eyes were harder than most." Orwell did extensive studies on the anatomy and physiology his homunculi, asked them questions, and shared his findings with them. "They might be reinforced with something on the outside, like the rest of me. And my eyelids are also fairly dense."

Unlike other creatures, when Savna closed her eyes, they went black. No reddish, veiny light filtered through even in spotlights on her face. She'd been around enough to know that she was blessed to have a creator who discovered and shared such information with her so freely. She remembered the day they'd found out about her eyes. He had been interested in her face, and how it mimicked expressions despite their mercurial nature.

"But I've never suffered permanent damage. I don't die no matter how badly I'm injured; so long as my cup stays safe, I can theoretically rebuild anything. I'm sure that includes eyes, I've regrown fingers and hands and skin that's melted completely off. Just keep me fed.

"Oh, that reminds me, if we're talking about attacks, my face itself cuts easier than the rest of my body. My skin is thinner around my face and joints to allow for movement, and builds up in places like my back and legs where it doesn't move much. I could probably reinforce those if you like, since we're talking about guard duty." And since master Lepidus seemed more serious about it than Orwell had been. But he had to be; this world was not the world of her owner. She had been born before the revolution, when the biggest threats were regular old humans that broke like dolls when she hit them just the right way. Now there were all sorts of dangerous things. Things that killed homunculi, things that didn't break so easily when punched. Things she actually had to be on alert for.

[Decimus Aemilius Lepidus]

Well, he could find smaller gems easy enough. He tugged open the bag and started to sift through it carefully, starting to pick out the smaller stones and placing them within easy reach of Savna, sorting them out in neat little piles according to their color. He paused however when Savna offered her arm to him, and he eyed it for a long moment before he gave a quick nod. "Sure. Just press it in?" He examined the emeralds he had collected so far and picked out one of the same size and shade before he looked at her arm again. He was rather careful with lining it up correctly with the other two before he pressed it in firmly before looking up at Savna. "That correct?" Perhaps he had pushed it in too hard... Could he accidentally damage her if he did?

He went back to sorting as he listened to her, mulling over her words carefully. A bodyguard who couldn't die was quite a valuable asset, there was so much more to her than he had first thought when he bought her. She had cost a lot, but she was worth every penny so far. "Well, if feeding is all it takes, I'll be happy to supply. And yes, we'd best reinforce those areas with diamonds, wouldn't want them hindering you if something should go wrong. I have a tendency to irritate people, and while most of them are smart enough to stay away, you never know when they might change their mind."

Though he didn't have any particular worries about it yet- so far he had kept to himself since coming to Corpus Christi. The real movers and shakers of the place knew about him he was sure, but he hadn't really interacted with them yet. But judging by the amount of invitations he was getting to parties, they were hoping to change that... He wouldn't be able to decline them forever without offending them; but he'd burn that bridge when he came to it.